From Wage Slave to Tycoon

Chapter 128: Chapter 104: Turns Out I’m Just Outwardly Strong but Inwardly Weak

The people Zong Xinyao brought with her this time were all elites.

Early the next morning, Zong Xinyao sent everyone out to handle their respective tasks. Su Chen didn’t stay idle either; he took Jiang Hui and Chen Fei out to explore Xilinhot.

This city, known as the "Pearl of the Grasslands," also boasted a rich cultural heritage and beautiful scenery.

As one of the four major temples in Inner Mongolia, the Prince Temple was one of the few tourist attractions in the urban area of Xilinhot. Naturally, Su Chen went to visit, but unfortunately, it wasn’t open to the public. He only took a brief look around the perimeter and took the opportunity to try some local food.

Most of the cuisine was related to lamb. The dish that left the deepest impression on Su Chen was the stone-grilled meat. It was said to date back to the time of Genghis Khan several centuries ago. They even used volcanic stones, and the resulting meat was tender and incredibly juicy...

Su Chen even made a special trip back to that stone-grill restaurant for a second day in a row.

The beef noodle soup also gave Su Chen a bit of a shock. In other places, you had to search for the beef among the noodles, but in Xilinhot... you had to search for the noodles among the beef.

It really made you understand what a true beef noodle soup should be.

The only thing that disappointed Su Chen was that the food in Inner Mongolia was rather mild. After a few days, he felt like his palate was missing something.

"Old Jiang, have you found anything yet? Are there any hot pot restaurants in Xilinhot?!" Su Chen asked, lounging on the sofa.

Jiang Hui and Chen Fei were searching online on their phones.

"Ahem... Sir, most of the hot pot here is similar to instant-boiled mutton. It’s either a plain broth or tomato-based. The other kinds of hot pot have a milky flavor. There really aren’t any authentic Sichuan or Chongqing-style hot pot restaurants..."

Jiang Hui sounded helpless. He and Chen Fei had been searching for half an hour and hadn’t found a single authentic hot pot place.

Thinking about it, it made sense. After all, people in Inner Mongolia generally don’t like spicy food. Besides, the quality of their lamb and beef was so high that it was delicious even when simply boiled in plain water.

You could say that spicy hot pot just didn’t suit the local palate in Inner Mongolia.

"Sigh..." Su Chen let out a long sigh upon hearing this.

’I wonder how Zong Xinyao is doing. If things are going smoothly, I might as well just head back to the Imperial Capital!’

Just as Su Chen muttered this to himself, the phone on the table began to ring.

The caller was none other than Zong Xinyao, the very person Su Chen had just been thinking about.

"Hello? Xinyao, what’s up?" Su Chen asked, his voice still a bit lazy.

Zong Xinyao’s dejected voice came from the other end of the line. "Boss, we have a problem!"

"A problem?" Su Chen immediately sat up on the sofa, his brow furrowing.

"What kind of problem? Is everyone okay?" His tone became much more serious.

"Everyone’s fine. It’s just that while Ziggy was consolidating the pasturelands, some people showed up to cause trouble and are stopping us from integrating the herders. From what we’ve gathered, they’re from local animal husbandry companies. The consolidation was almost complete, but now they’ve stirred up so much panic that many of the herders are starting to have second thoughts!"

Su Chen’s brow furrowed even deeper at her words. He had been mentally prepared for something like this, but he hadn’t expected them to act so quickly, or to band together. That part was a bit puzzling.

"What’s the background of these animal husbandry companies? And what reason are they giving the herders to make them hesitate?"

"Boss, I had someone look into it. All these companies have a major shareholder in common—Yuntian Investment. This company has invested in quite a few agricultural and livestock businesses in the northwest; its reach is pretty extensive. We couldn’t find out anything more than that."

"As for the herders, they’re worried we aren’t strong enough and will get forced out by the local companies. If that happens, they’ll be in an even worse position!"

Su Chen didn’t respond immediately. He was silent for a long moment before saying, "I understand. For now, you all take a day off to rest. I’ll call you later about what to do next."

"Okay, Boss!" Hearing Su Chen’s words, Zong Xinyao let out a long sigh of relief.

In truth, the situation was even more troublesome than she had let on. All the animal husbandry companies from the entire Xilinhot Alliance had gathered in Dongwu Banner. There were nearly a hundred of them. A conflict had almost broken out earlier, and it was only through the timely intervention of Ziggy and the local authorities that the company representatives were prevented from doing anything to them.

’Sigh... I hope the boss can resolve this soon!’ Zong Xinyao thought, her heart still uneasy as she gazed out the window at the dozens of SUVs parked in the distance.

After hanging up, Su Chen sat on the sofa, lost in thought for a moment. He decided to make a call to find out about the background of this Yuntian Investment.

As for who to ask, Su Chen had the perfect person in mind: Hou Ting.

It couldn’t be helped; after all, his father’s animal husbandry company was quite famous nationwide.

Once he’d made up his mind, he called Hou Ting directly.

The phone rang three or four times before Hou Ting picked up.

"Young Master Su, what made you think of calling me? Do you have any orders for me?" Hou Ting joked.

"Old Hou, I need to ask you about something."

Hearing the somewhat serious tone in Su Chen’s voice, he immediately grew stern. "Young Master Su, go ahead."

"I know your family is also in the animal husbandry business. I wanted to ask if you know anything about the background of Yuntian Investment."

"Yuntian Investment? Young Master Su, don’t tell me you’ve crossed paths with them!" Hou Ting’s voice instantly shot up several decibels.

Hearing Hou Ting’s somewhat piercing voice, Su Chen frowned slightly. "Is Yuntian Investment a big deal?"

"Yuntian Investment itself isn’t much, but behind it is the Yunting Group! They’re a corporate giant whose businesses cover the entire northwestern region, and they’re the type to be exceptionally low-key!" Hou Ting deliberately stressed the words "low-key."